Excerpt: Dreamer

When I reached the source of the noise, I am a bit surprised. A Quarry worker is surrounded by five Wardens, each holding a length of chain about as long as the worker was tall. I can see the worker spitting up something disgusting, and something seemed wrong about him. The worker makes an energetic lunge toward one of the Wardens, who would reply with a quick lashing of his chain. Each hit, however, sends the worker into even wilder hysterics as he tries to engage in more fighting. One last crack of the chain and the worker is sprawled on the ground, the disgusting liquid oozing from his skin and his mouth. He started gurgling a bit, and promptly spat up some more of the thick liquid. The crazed worker then looks up and rolls over onto his back before coughing more liquid up and spitting it onto the ground.

“When will it end?” he asked quietly, almost a whisper. A Warden promptly responded with a kick to the stomach. After another coughing fit, the worker tries to regain his balance and footing, but stumbles and lands on his knee. He picks up his head and looks around once again, at all of the Wardens, and at all of the workers around him.

“When will it end!?” his voice rose higher and became more shrill. The noise hurt my ears. I saw more of the liquid fly from his mouth, hitting a Warden’s boot and spraying elsewhere on the ground. “It all begins with you! If you would do something, maybe—just maybe—we wouldn’t have to do this all day long! Maybe you could be free to make your own choi—”

A Warden promptly cut off the worker’s speech with another blow of the chain to his back. Clearly fatigued, the worker fell flat onto his face. A cloud of dust billowed up from underneath him as he landed. Three Wardens picked him up by the arms and legs and took him away from the Quarry. The two remaining Wardens looked at the crowd of us that had gathered during the commotion.

“Get back to work, all of you!” they barked, “or else you’ll get the same treatment! It is a Government order to harm those who attack the Wardens, and it is also a Government order to discipline those who don’t get back to work!” Slowly the crowd dispersed, and I walked back to my rock, the same one that I had walked away from to see a man receive his punishment.

The rest of the day passed quickly without further interruptions. The rocks in the Quarry have more chips and holes in them, thanks to the tireless efforts of the workers. We returned our tools once again to the Warden and we walked away from the Quarry once again. I filed into a line and marched with the group from whence we had come.

We had walked once again to the building with the smokestacks. I heard the familiar sound of chains hitting flesh once again. Around the final corner, I found the same worker who had stood up to the Wardens lying in a heap on the ground, with the Wardens still beating on him for his insolence at the Quarry earlier that day. He was face-down in a puddle of the same thick liquid he had been spitting up earlier that day, and I could only see movement when he lifted his head to breathe. I glanced in his direction for a second, and then faced forward to keep the line moving once again. I do not remember if the face-down man saw me or not.